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Central Europe
January 12, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 11
parliament, and both the president and the new prime minister have proceeded from the outset towards a minority government, thus violating parliament’s democratic practices.”
The vote was eventully postponed until January 16 to enable parliament to examine whether to once again withdraw Babis’ immunity from prosecution, which was reinstated by the general election. This is a blow because Babis had tried to delay any vote on his immunity until after the vote of confi- dence. The immunity committee, which reviews the police’s application, has been dragging its feet because of the political stalemate, even though it was all gone through as recently as last year.
The scandal over the allegedly fraudulent subsidy application for the Stork’s Nest conference and recreation centre has deepened after a report by the EU fraud watchdog Olaf confirmed there were serious suspicion of irregularities, with the applicant company providing untrue and incomplete informa- tion. Babis’s government has refused to release the report but it has been leaked to the media.
Babis claims he had nothing to do with the claim for EU aid, which was made by a company owned by his family. He also says he needs more time to go through the report before he appears before the committee. Eventually however, his immunity is likely to be lifted, though whether the police can then prove that he was directly responsible for any fraud is questionable.
Despite these setbacks, there are growing
signs that the CSSD, Ano’s former partners in government, are moving closer to forming a new coalition with Babis, this time possibly backed
with the votes of the Communists, giving it a majority of 108.
"The CSSD is ready to unblock this pathetic situ- ation and start a brand new negotiation on the establishment of a coalition government," Milan Chovanec, the party’s acting leader, tweeted be- fore the vote.
CSSD deputy chairman Jan Chvojka, in an inter- view with Echo TV, said the party would demand the finance, interior and justice portfolios, to prevent Babis interfering with the Stork’s Nest investigation.
Such a coalition has long been Zeman’s preferred solution, something that he could be in a strong position to impose if he opens up a convincing lead in the first round of the presidential election. The two leading candidates will go through to a run-off on January 26-27, where Zeman is likely to face a strong challenge from Jiri Drahos, for- mer president of the Academy of Sciences.
Zeman will want to be able to show voters the birth of the new government before the second round of the election but the timing remains very tight, particularly because the CSSD will be effectively leaderless until a party congress in February.
If the parties cannot agree in time, and Drahos wins, the political deadlock may be extended because though the centrist former chemist has given mixed comments about Babis, he might balk at a government backed by the Communists, who have been pariahs ever since the 1989 Velvet Revolution.